Netball at the Commonwealth Games
Netball at the Commonwealth Games: its 1998 debut, how the tournament works, every medallist from 1998 to Glasgow 2026, and the finals people still talk about.
Netball is one of the flagship team sports at the Commonwealth Games, bringing together national teams from across the Commonwealth every four years alongside the standalone Netball World Cup.
Joining the Commonwealth Games
Netball first appeared at the 1990 Games in Auckland as a demonstration sport, with a one-off match between Australia and New Zealand and no medals awarded. It became a full medal sport at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — more than three decades after the first Netball World Cup in 1963. See history of netball for how this fits into the sport's broader international growth.
Format
The tournament has usually featured 12 national teams (10 in 2002), split into pools, with the leading teams advancing to semi-finals, a bronze medal match and the final. Because entry is restricted to Commonwealth nations and territories, the field differs from the Netball World Cup — for example, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all compete separately, as they do in netball generally.
Every medallist
| Year | Host | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Kuala Lumpur | Australia | New Zealand | England |
| 2002 | Manchester | Australia | New Zealand | Jamaica |
| 2006 | Melbourne | New Zealand | Australia | England |
| 2010 | Delhi | New Zealand | Australia | England |
| 2014 | Glasgow | Australia | New Zealand | Jamaica |
| 2018 | Gold Coast | England | Australia | Jamaica |
| 2022 | Birmingham | Australia | Jamaica | New Zealand |
| 2026 | Glasgow | New Zealand | Jamaica | Australia |
From 1998 to 2014, Australia and New Zealand met in every final and shared every gold and silver medal between them. Overall, Australia have won four golds and New Zealand three, with England's 2018 title the only gold won by another nation.
Finals that stand out
- 2010, Delhi: New Zealand beat Australia after double extra time, with Maria Tutaia scoring the winning goal.
- 2018, Gold Coast: England beat hosts Australia 52–51, with Helen Housby scoring with the final whistle — England's first Commonwealth gold, and the first won by a team other than Australia or New Zealand.
- 2022, Birmingham: Jamaica reached their first Commonwealth final, losing to Australia.
- 2026, Glasgow: New Zealand beat Jamaica in the final. It was the first Commonwealth netball tournament in which Australia didn't reach the final; they took bronze by beating England.
Why it matters to the sport
The Commonwealth Games gives netball a share of the spotlight within a major multi-sport event, alongside sports like athletics and swimming, raising its profile in a way a standalone netball tournament can't replicate on its own.
Where this page stops
This page covers netball's Commonwealth Games history and format, not live results or the schedule for the next Games — check the Commonwealth Sport or World Netball official sites for current tournament information.
Sources
All information on this page is given to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing (October 2026), after referring to the sources below — official sources wherever they exist, and the named secondary source where we couldn't find an official record.
- World Netball: Commonwealth Games events and results
- World Netball: Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games day 5 wrap
- Medallists checked against World Netball's results table above (October 2026).
Related reading
See Netball World Cup for the sport's standalone world championship, and history of the Netball World Cup for how international netball competition began.